FILM ON HEROIN ABUSE SHOWS PHOTOS OF OVERDOSE VICTIM

LONDON (AP) - The family of a 21-year-old woman who died from a heroin
overdose has allowed grim photographs of her body to be included in a film
warning schoolchildren of the dangers of drug abuse.

The 22-minute film, "Rachel's Story," shows images of Rachel Whitear's
happy childhood and tracks her descent from a promising university career
to heroin addiction and death.

National newspapers Friday ran pictures of Whitear's body taken by police
when she was discovered in her rented room in the southern port town of
Exmouth in May 2000. Crouched face-down in a fetal position on the floor
and still clutching a hypodermic syringe, she had been dead for three days.

Whitear's stepfather, Mick Holcroft, 53, and her mother, Pauline, 52, of
Ledbury in Herefordshire, central England, are also featured in the film,
which was made by Herefordshire education authorities with funding from the
Department of Health.

"It was a very difficult decision to release the photograph, but we thought
that if we did so, we would be using her body to help others," Pauline
Holcroft said.